Wireless connectivity technologies have led to applications in tracking the location and movement of people and wireless devices in relation to geographic areas. There has been a progression of such technologies over many years. Several patent documents reference such technologies, including the following.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0018096 filed on Jul. 16, 2013 and owned by Aisle411, Inc., discloses a system for indoor mapping. Wireless signals from wireless devices within an indoor area are received and utilized to create a wireless signal fingerprint that identifies each signal and the strength of the signal. The location that the wireless signal fingerprint was taken can be geo-referenced on a map. The wireless signal fingerprints for an area can be mapped, and a user may determine a location by comparing a wireless signal fingerprint generated by the user to wireless signal fingerprints previously taken within the indoor area.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,989,775 issued on Mar. 24, 2015 to RetailNext, Inc., discloses techniques for tracking the location of a device that transmits a wireless signal. The wireless signal is received at a set of receivers. Distances to the device are determined based on the signal strength. Boundaries encompassing possible locations of the device are defined based upon the distances, and boundary intersections are analyzed in order to determine the location of the device. A set of video cameras can be utilized to track subjects, and tracks from the cameras can be projected onto a floor plan map of an indoor location, such as a store.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,989,880 issued on Mar. 24, 2015 to ZIH Corp., discloses a system for providing performance analytics using dynamics/kinetics models, based on role data or weather data and real time data relating to the movement and proximity of tagged objects. Each participant to be tracked has a tag correlated thereto, and tag locations are determined based upon blink data. Tag location data may also be compared to participant dynamics/kinetics models based at least in part on the participant role data.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,046,373 issued on Jun. 2, 2015 to TRX Systems, Inc., discloses a system for locating, tracking, and/or monitoring the status of personnel and/or assets indoors and outdoors. Tracking data is obtained from a source and provided as input to a mapping application. The mapping application generates position estimates for trackees and utilizes information from building data to enhance position estimates when available. For indoor tracking, sensor fusion methods and map matching may be utilized to compute a more accurate tracking estimate for trackees. For outdoor tracking, combining tracking estimates such as inertial tracks with magnetic and/or compass data with GPS if available may be utilized to enhance outdoor tracking data.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0235161 filed on Feb. 14, 2014 and owned by BBY Solutions, Inc., discloses a system for tracking customers and employees in a commercial environment, such as a retail store. The invention requires that devices be operated by the customers and employees within the store. The system tracks the devices that are associated with either a customer or an employee.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,983,493 issued on Mar. 17, 2015 to Skyhook Wireless, Inc., discloses a method of providing a relevant subset of information to a client device based on scanning for Wi-Fi access points within range of the client device within a target region. A Wi-Fi database that covers the target region may be utilized to retrieve information about the access points and to estimate the position of the mobile client device as an estimated location. A limited region in the vicinity of the estimated location of the client device may be selected and information about Wi-Fi access points within the limited region may be provided to client.
What is needed is a system and method: for use indoors, outdoors and in an indoor/outdoor combination within a bounded location that is operable to track people and/or equipment within the bounded location; that employs a calibration process to measure wireless signals at calibration points identified within the bounded region; that post-calibration is operable to track a person or equipment moving within the bounded location through use of a device that is related to the person or equipment to take readings of Wi-Fi signal strengths from the calibration points at intervals in time and to determine the nearest calibration point to the device; that generates location information relating to the person or equipment and may render such information on a map, such as a map of the bounded location. What is further needed is a system operable to analyze the location information in order to determine effective use of one or more areas, or the facilities relating to one or more areas, within the bounded space at points in time.